Saturday, June 7, 2008

Meet Me Downtown 5k race report

I was almost late for the race! Traffic was hectic Downtown, and I arrived at the start line with 5 minutes to spare. I had to use the restroom, but there was no time for that! The race started at 6:30pm. It was super hot (around 95 still), and although there were 2 aid stations along the course, I only drank water at the mile 1 aid station. Mile 2 aid station was a little behind the ball and did not have water poured in cups ready to go, so I just passed. I was doing about a 8:10 mile average until mile 3, when I became so overheated and thirsty, that I just slowed way down. The course snakes through Downtown Tucson, through the courthouse buildings and through the Downtown Barrio, which is a historic neighborhood. A lot of the residents come out to drink beer and cheer the runners on!

I finished in 25:47, which was faster than my time of 25:56 last year! That is an 8:17.9 min/mile average. Not bad for running 9 miles this morning and still recovering from my marathon and ultramarathons blitz! I was number 191 out of 827 finishers overall and 8th in my age group (W40-44) out of 59 women. So, I was happy. It is always fun to see how I do against the crowd, but I don't get too hung up on it. In the end, the race is always against myself, I believe.There was plenty of food after the race from the local Downtown restaurants-shrimp ceviche, pizza, bean salad, brownies, oranges. I tried it all. I got to visit with many of my running friends; I chatted a lot with Sheryl (picture, right), Steve, and Martinho (picture, left), who all ran a fine and fast race. I saw Glenn, Marcie, and David from the trail races this Winter, too. This race brought so many of the Tucson runners out.

Kenny came to support me and we went with the after-race crowd over to the Fox Theatre to see the movie 'Spirit of the Marathon', which was complementary with my race entry. The movie followed a range of runners as they trained for the Chicago Marathon. There were also interviews of many of the top runners in the USA, past and present. It was very cool. Just sitting in the Fox Theatre is neat. My husband was probably a little bored, but he got brownie points

for his effort. I think he also got a little insight into my love of running. I had a great time, but I also realized that I just love running the longer distances, so it might be my last 5k...